Lucy Heartfilia and the Missing Manuscript
by Beczy
Summary: When Lucy returns to a suspiciously quiet house, she jumps at the opportunity to finish the chapter of her novel that she has been stuck on for weeks. But when she goes to pull out the docments, the draw is empty, and smells like fish.


****So, this is the first piece of fan fiction I have ever written. There will be typos and grammatical errors. Please be excuse them and please review. Enjoy my brain vomit! Featuring hints of NaLu + Christmas

And the usual disclaimer: I obviously do not own any part of Fairy Tail. I just wanted to play around with the characters. It was fun.

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><p><strong>Lucy Heartfilia and the Missing Manuscript<strong>

I sank down in my seat as another flaming chair flew past my head. They were at it _again._ This needless fighting was a daily occurance. Every day Gray would say something to Natsu, who would take it the wrong way and get _'all fired up'_. Then they'd start to punch each other—well, try to—Gray would lose his clothes (if he hadn't already) and someone would bump into someone else, who would get offended. And then they'd get into a fight. And then people would start using magic. The guild would be a complete mess by the time Erza or Master Makarov broke it up and would be fine again for the next round the following day. It was a tiresome tradition of Fairy Tail's.

One I wouldn't give up for the world.

"Would you like anything else, Miss Lucy?"

I glanced up at Mirajane who was leaning on the bar in front of me. "No thanks. I'd better be on my way. I need to buy everyone presents." Christmas was approaching and, knowing my team, they'd expect gifts. Nice, thoughtful gifts.

"Well, take ca—" Something blue collided with Mira; cutting of any reply she was trying to make.

"Whoa, are you guys okay?" I leant over the bar, trying to assess the damage. Mira was out cold, but Happy was stirring. "Aye…"

"Well, that's good." I pushed myself away from the bar. "You coming, Plue?"

Nikola, the Canis Minor celestial spirit and my pet affectionetly known as Plue, clambered into my arms._"Pun~Puun_."

As I walked out the door, I heard Erza's commanding voice rise over the commotion. "What is going on here? Are we not civilised humans? What gives you the impression you are permitted to act like monstrous thugs?"

I smiled to myself. I love my guild.

* * *

><p>I stared despairingly into my empty purse. There were no jewels left for rent. Maybe I should ask my father for money… No! I would not give into temptation. Besides, the Heartfilia fortune was gone. My father is as poor as me now.<p>

I sighed and shoved the purse back into my bag. "Guess we're fasting this month, Plue."

"_Puun."_

I hugged Plue tight to my chest. "Now," I turned and placed a hand on my hip. "How am I going to carry all these bags?" They were all on a pile on the path, bags from numerous stalls in the market filled with presents for the guild members. Well, everyone but Natsu. I wasn't sure what to get him.

_This is where a boyfriend would be useful, but you don't have one!_ The traitorous voice of my mind sounded suspiciously like Aquarius.

"I don't need a stupid boyfriend," I muttered as I pulled a golden key from my belt. "Open, gate of the maiden, Virgo!"

The maid appeared before me, pink head bent in a courteous bow. "You summoned me, princess. Is it time for my punishment?"

"No! Why do you insist that I punish you when you've done nothing wrong?"

"I'm sorry, princess. Please, punish me for my unlawful statement."

"NO! I'm not going to punish you. Can you just carry those bags home for me? Please?"

"Anything to please my master. Afterwards, will you commence my punishment?"

"Virgo, please just carry the bags. And accept the fact that I won't punish you."

"As you wish, princess."

Virgo picked up _all _the bags and started toward my house. I stood there, opening and closing my empty hands. I could have carried at least one; I wasn't completely useless, as some people outside the guild seemed to believe.

I followed her slowly, walking along the wall that framed the river and daydreaming.

"Be careful up there, miss! You don't want to fall in!"

"Huh, _whoa—_" I tripped over my own feet, my arms pinwheeled as I tried to keep my balance.

My efforts were not successful.

I kicked my way up to the surface. This was embarassing. And I was wearing white today. Well, at least I was right outside my house. Right. Outside. My house…

Oh, god. I hoped Natsu or Gray weren't in there; they would never let me hear the end of this.

"Princess!"

"No, Virgo, don't—"

Virgo dived into the river, splashing water directly into my mouth. She surfaced as I choked on contaminents.

"I have come to rescue you, princess."

"You didn't need to jump in! —"

"I apologise, princess."

"You could have just helped pull me out—"

"I apologise, princess."

"And now we're both soaking wet."

"I apologise, princess. Please, punish me."

I slapped the water. "For the last time, Virgo, I WILL NOT PUNISH YOU!"

I swam over to the wall and pulled myself out of the water. "Did you put all the bags inside?"

"Yes, princess."

"Was anyone else inside? Particularly, was a naked, dark haired ice mage or a pink haired fire mage with a scarf and a blue cat—"

"Neither Natsu nor Gray were inside your house, princess."

It seemed my luck was good today.

"You can go back now, Virgo."

She bowed, somehow making it graceful even though she was floating in the middle of a river. "I will return for my punishment later, princess." She disappeared before I could retort.

* * *

><p>It was so nice to be in a nice, quiet house all on your own. You could listen to your own thoughts, eat whatever you wanted, read whatever you wanted, write whatever you wanted and do whatever you wanted without the dreaded fear of interruption.<p>

I stepped out of the warm shower and wrapped a towel tightly around myself. Before stepping into my room I peeked out of the doorway. Since I had joined Fairy Tail I had learnt to keep a lookout for unplanned visitors.

The room was empty. The was no half-naked Gray lounging in a chair, no red haired Erza munching on strawberry cake, no pink haired, fire breathing idiot Natsu doing pushups in the corner.

This house had never been quieter. I grinned. I could finally finish that chapter I'd been stuck on for the past week.

I reviewed the events that had previously occurred in my novel as I dressed, planning what would happen in the next sccene. I could see the characters actions, hear their conversation, I knew everything that was going to happen. I needed to write it down before I lost it.

I grabbed my special pen and yanked open my draw. I reached in to pull out the pages of my novel.

There was nothing there.

I looked, my brain doubting my hands. The draw was empty. Absolutely empty. There was not even one scrap of paper left. I couldn't understand it. My manuscript had to be in here, that's where I placed it every time I wrote a new sentence. For it to just disappear… Someone must have taken it.

I bent closer and inspected the draw with the intesity of a detective looking for clues that led to the identification of a serial killer. There was no trace of anything.

I was about to break down and cry when I caught the hint of a perculiar odour. I leaned in closer to the draw and sniffed. It was a familiar smell. It kind of smelt like… Ew! Slimy fish!

I was going to kill that cat.

* * *

><p>Everyone was shocked as I burst through the guild doors. I was livid. The tangible anger rolled of me in waves. When I found that cat…<p>

My quick scan of the guild revealed that neither Happy nor Natsu were there.

"Where are they?" Someone flinched at my hostile tone as others stared at me, shocked. They had never seen my fury before. "The Salamander and his cat?"

"I th-think I saw them hanging around the diner," Gray answered. My gaze turned to him. He paled slightely.

"When was this?"

"Only a few m-minutes ago. Half an hour maybe?"

"Thank you. And for the hundreth time, put on some clothes."

"Y-yes, sir!"

I was almost out of the guild's courtyard when Levy caught up to me.

"What's wrong, Lucy? I've never seen you this angry before."

I stopped and looked down at her. If anyone could understand what I was feeling right now, it'd be Levy.

"They stole my manuscript."

"They stole… you mean your novel? The one I was supposed to read before anyone else?" I nodded. Levy adopted an extremely menacing expression. "They will pay for this."

* * *

><p>They weren't in the restruant. We had walked all this way, and they weren't in the stupid restruant. And no one inside remembered seeing the thieves.<p>

"Don't worry, Lucy," Levy consoled me. "If we need to we can find some dogs to hunt them down and then tear them apart limb by limb."

I looked at Levy from the corner of my eye. "I never knew you had such a dark side."

She grinned and cracked her knuckles. "We all have monsters lurking inside us. Mine is just extremely well hidden. It comes out when my friends are being hurt or I am robbed of something precious to me."

I laughed. "Well I like it. I bet Gajeel would too." She blushed and looked steadfastly at her feet. "Yes, w-well… Maybe."

"Lucy? Levy? Is that you?" Wendy was approching us, Charle in her usual place beside her. "What are you doing here?"

"Looking for Natsu and Happy," I told her as Levy tried to hide her red cheeks with her hands. "Have you seen them?"

"We had lunch with the Salamander and the He-cat in this establishment a few hours ago," Charle replied with her usual haughty flair.

"I had a few questions about his life with Igneel," Wendy added. "After that he left. He said he had an urgent mission that had to be completed as soon as possible. They should be back in a week, though."

I sighed and shared a look with Levy. I wouldn't be getting my manuscript back any time soon, if at all.

* * *

><p>A week passed and there was no sign that the fire dragon slayer was going to return any time soon. Master Makarov didn't know anything about the mission Natsu and Happy had undertaken, it had nothing to do with the guild. It was strangely peaceful without him. Hardly any fights broke out and my house was almost constantly quiet.<p>

Too quiet.

And okay, I'll admit it. I missed him. Natsu was almost always nearby, ready to lend a helping hand or a shoulder to lean on. And when he wasn't, I gernerally knew where he was. I was never worried as I was now, when I had no idea where he was. He could be lying in a ditch in a forest god-knows-where dying a slow and painful death. He could be trapped, kidnapped, lost. He could have run away with some dumb ditzy girl who had caught his attention and have completely forgotten me. Not that that was important. Natsu could have any girl he wanted. Why should I care if that girl was someone other than me? It's not like I _like_ like him or anything.

"Are you excited for the party tonight, Lucy?"

"Huh?" I shook myself out of my ridiculous thoughts and looked up at Wendy. "Party… Oh yeah!" Tonight was Fairy Tail's Christmas party, where I'd finally get to give out my presents. Though I hadn't found anything for Natsu yet… But by the looks of things it was doubtful he would return in time.

"I am excited."

Wendy smiled at me. "I am too. This will be my first Christmas since I left my old guild." Her smile dimmed slightly at the mention of Cait Shelter. It had been a long time since it was revealed that that guild had been created just for her, but Wendy still missed her old friends.

"We're all excited," Cana added from her perch on the opposite table. "This is the first time we've had someone actively organise something for Christmas."

"You're just excited because it gives you another excuse to binge drink," I told her.

She shrugged. "Any excuse to drink is a great thing." Cana lifted the barrel to her mouth and began drinking directly from the tap. I had no idea how she was able to handle alcohol so well.

"It is a wonderful idea though," Mira said as she placed a bowl of ice cream in front of Wendy. "Many of us haven't properly celebrated this occasion in years."

* * *

><p>A couple of hours later I left with Wendy to retrieve my bags of presents. Our return was greeted with mess. Most of the tables were smashed and a couple were smoking. I could hear profanities being shouted, fists connecting with skin, and magic spells being recited.<p>

It appeared our missing Salamander had returned.

"Lucy! Wendy! Help me!" Happy flew toward us and cowered behind my back.

"What's wrong, cat?" It took a lot of effort to keep my voice level and my hands by my side.

"Levy said she'd skin me alive! And I don't know why! What's happened to her? Why is she so angry?"

"I wonder why." I dropped my bags and pulled him from behind my back. "Where is my manuscript, you stupid cat? What have you done with it? I swear, if you've lost it I'll do worse than skin you alive!"

Happy struggled in my hands, trying to pull my hands from his face. "It was Natsu's idea! I swear! I had nothing to do with it!"

"Then why did my draw smell like fish?"

"Uh, well… Natsu told me to steal it because your door was locked and the window wouldn't open wide enough for him to get through!"

"And where is it now?"

"…That's a secret."

Before I could rip his face of Master Makarov interrupted. "Stop fighting everyone. Christmas is not a time to fight. It is a time to…" He continued with his daily motivational speech as the rest of the guild stopped fighting and listened. It was amazing when this happened, that one small old man's words could ring true with so many people.

Soon all the tables were righted and the party began. I released Happy and piled all the presents on a nearby table.

"Wow, what's all this, Lucy?" Erza asked as she began munching on a slice of strawberry cake.

"Everyones presents."

"You bought us all gifts?" Gray, shirtless as usual, asked, surprised.

"Of course I did," I replied. "It's Christmas. Exchanging gifts is the norm. And I owe Fairy Tail so much, this was the least I could do."

"Oh. Well… I didn't buy any presents."

"Neither did I," Erza added. "I'm sorry, Lucy. It must have cost you a lot of jewels. Please, feel free to return my gift to help with your rent."

I shook my head. "No, no, it's fine. I enjoy the giving part of Christmas." And the receiving part, but I couldn't exactly say that.

Erza smiled. "Well, whatever it is you bought us I am sure it will be lovely and thoughtful."

As soon as Natsu came over (at which I kind of glared at him and blushed at the same time, remembering his crime and my earlier thoughts) I began handing out the gifts.

Erza received a strawberry cake and a voucher for her favourite bakery. Happy got a couple of his favourite fish. I gave Charle a small diamond tiara, which I though matched her personality perfectly. Levy received the latest installment of our favourite series of novels, and Wendy got a cute little dress from the spirit world.

"A shirt?" Gray asked as he opened his present.

Natsu laughed. "I think that's a hint, ice boy."

"I did try to find a straight jaket," I told Gray, "but had no luck." He wouldn't be able to strip out of one of those. I think. Besides, he walked around with his hands in his pocket all the time anyway.

"Juvia does not approve of this gift to Juvia's beloved."

I ignored Juvia's antics. As hard as it was to believe, not everyone enjoyed Gray's nakedness. Soon all the gifts were gone and the only person left was—

"Hey, don't I get anything?"

Natsu.

I turned to him. "I'm really sorry. I couldn't find anything that I thought you'd like, and I wasn't even sure if you'd be here for the party. I will buy you something soon though, I promise."

He shrugged. "Don't worry about it. Can I give you my present now?"

I was shocked. "You bought me a present?"

Natsu nodded. "Where do you think I was the last week?"

He's spent a week—_a week_—getting my present? What the heck was it? The rest of the guild was **a** shocked as I was. We all stared as Happy flew toward us, my manuscript in hand.

"You're giving me _my manuscript_?" What type of gift was that?

"Not exactly," Natsu said as Happy placed the documents in my hands. "You see, on the last job I went on alone I helped out this little old man. Long story short, it turned out he was the owner of some publishing company. I started telling him about how you were writing a novel, and he said he was always looking for fresh talent and wouldn't mind reading it, even though it wasn't completed."

There was no way this story was going where I thought it was. No. Way.

"So," Natsu continued, "I got Happy to fly in and take the manuscript. The past week we've been at the publisher's house waiting for him to finish reading the manuscript."

He paused. I don't know why. I wanted to hear how this ended. Cleary, so did everyone else.

"What happened next?" A few of them called out. "Did he like it or what?"

Natsu regained his composure and huffed. "Obviously. Lucy wrote it, didn't she? He said he wants to see the completed version and have a conversation about royalties or something with you."

My jaw was on the floor. I could not understand how, by just bumping into an old man, Natsu had managed to get me a—

"_Publishing deal_?" Levy burst out. "You got her a publsihing deal?"

"A possible publishing deal," I corrected. "This guy may not like the completed draft."

She leapt and tackle hugged me. "Lucy, this is so exciting! You're going to be a published author! Your dream will come true! Although…" Her mood quickly darkened as the evil Levy began to surface. "That guy got to read part of your manuscript before me. All because of you!" She pointed at Natsu and Happy. "You will pay for this!"

"Us?" Natsu was bewildered, but Happy blanched. "I'm outta here," he said, escaping through a window. "Good luck, Natsu!"

"Hang on, what? Why would I need luck?"

Levy fist soon connected with Natsu's jaw and the evening once again became quite entertaining.

* * *

><p>A few hours later the party dispersed, everyone leaving for their respective homes. Except Erza. She had gone to visit Jellal.<p>

"Thank you," I told Natsu as he kept pace beside me. He had insisted on walking me to my door, saying something about the possibility of cold, stripping stalkers.

"You don't need to keep saying that. It's no big deal."

"Yes, it is." I pushed him playfully. "Do you know how hard it is to get a publishing deal? And you've practically just handed me one a a giant silver platter."

"Like I said, it's no big deal. Now stop arguing and accept it."

"Fine."

It was really dark tonight. There was no moon and the stars only provided a limited amount of light. The light giving lacrima attached to houses lining the street were dim. They needed to be replaced.

"I still feel bad about not giving you a present."

Natsu's smile brightened the night a little. "I don't mind. Seeing the look on your face when I gave you mine was good enough."

I looked at him. This Natsu was new. He normally teased me about silly things and was never serious. The fact that he said that so matter of factly…

"What's up with you? You're not acting normal."

"I'm not?" he asked. I shook my head. He considered it for a moment. "You know, it could be because I've met someone lately who I've come to care for a lot."

Oh. "Is it some girl?"

He nodded. "She is one sweet girl. I can't believe how lucky I am to have her in my life, and how stupid I was to only realise this recently. I don't know if she feels the same way about me, though."

So he's known her for a while then.

"Do I know her?" I asked.

"You certainly do. You do see her practically everyday."

Maybe it was Lisanna. It wouldn't surprise me. They were very close before she died/ was transported to Edolas.

"Who it it?"

Natsu stepped closer to me, leaning down until our noses were touching, and grinned. "Do you really want to know?"

**THE END**

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><p>I do not apologise for leaving it there, I will let your imaginations run rampant.<p>

_(I still can't believe I wrote that last part. I don't know where from my mind it came from...)_

Anyhoo, so what did you think?


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